ESAT News (March 31, 2016)
Ethiopian regime forces continue to mass arrest in the Oromia region of the country where people have been protesting against political and economic marginalization for the last four months.
Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, Dr. Merara Gudina told ESAT on Wednesday that the regime has recently arrested about three thousand more people. This is on top of the estimated five thousand arrested in the first three months of the protest. He said although officials of the regime have publicly apologized for the killing of protesters in the region, mass arrest has continued unabated.
Dr. Merara was himself banned from travelling abroad last week. He was at the Addis Ababa airport to catch his plane to Washington, DC for an Ethiopian political conference when immigration officials told him the electronic passport scanner couldn’t read his passport. He said the regime was deliberately stopping him from attending the high profile political meeting where opposition groups had deliberated on post TPLF Ethiopia.
Dr. Merara said regime’s forces have continued mass arrests in Wellega, Ambo, Arsi, East Hararghe and other places in the Oromia region. He said the whereabouts of those arrested is not known. He said special forces of the regime still remain deployed allover Oromia.
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ESAT News (March 30, 2016)
Hundreds of schools have been closed across Ethiopia due to the looming famine in the country as well as growing security concerns as public uprisings continue, leaving tens of thousands of children out of school.
Students in places severely affected by the drought, such as Somali, Afar, South and Amhara regions do not attend schools as they are either busy helping parents fetch water or have left their villages altogether in search of food.
Thousands of schools were also closed in Oromia region due to security concerns as the protest against the regime continue. Schools were closed because of security concerns in Konso and Hamer, south Ethiopia and Gondar in the north, where there is growing public uprising against the government.
Most schools in Oromia region were closed on orders of the government and will remain closed for the rest of the school year.
The presence of security forces in those schools still open has caused unease on the part of the students, it was learnt.